Primary Menu

Managing my ADHD Brain – Inattention and Colours

How amazing is this pic!!!????!!!!

I am so blessed to have been contacted by an AMAZINGLY talented artist (She does body paint, make up, face paint and conceptual art) called Latifah – Tabarah Emovon (@Tabbyfaces on instagram) who said she would like to paint me how I see my ADHD so here it is.

Anyone that knows me knows how obsessed I am with colour. I love All colours. Yellow is my favourite though. I didnt ever understand why colours made me feel so calm and happy but I feel like I have been a colour collector since I flew out of the womb lol. I used to collect trolls because I liked seeing all of their colorful hair, I used to collect colourful rubbers and not let ANYONE use them (we all had someone like that at school lol), I still collect stickers and stationary and have way more than I could ever get through yet still need more. I’ve also always redecorated things to add a bit of a colour whether it be school books, bags, trainers (it would break my heart now), furniture.. EVERYTHING. I just hated seeing things plain. I have carried a pencil case the size of a loaf of bread in my bag every day since I was around 8 and can NOT write anything without using at least 2 colours. My house is more colourful than a nursery and when I used to be scared as a child, I would close my eyes and picture my classroom for comfort. I actually wanted to be a primary school teacher because I liked the ‘vibe’ in primary schools. Now I realise it was the colours that I was drawn to. The beautiful artwork all over the place made my eyes happy and so I felt like I wanted to be surrounded by it all of the time. I knew I was a creative individual from a young age but didn’t quite know why I felt edgy, nervous and uncomfortable in environments that were dull.

Learning about ADHD has been such a blessing because I am learning so many new things about ME! People with ADHD are very visual. Not only do colours improve brain performance, but Dr. Robert Gerard has pioneered research which suggests that every color has a specific wavelength, and each of these affect our body and brain in a different way. Colour in its purest form is energy, and it has its own magnetic frequency that can affect neurological pathways in the brain that create a biochemical response. Basically, colours affect how you feel and how you think. Using the right colour, and the correct selection and placement can have a profound effect on our feelings, attention, and behavior. Learning to manage my ADHD brain has involved a lot of me learning how to manage these 3 aspects of my character so this is why I believe my love of colour is linked to my ADHD.

All brains need to be aroused in order to function well. Visual or optimal arousal enables brains to be alert, receptive and ready to learn. Non ADHD Brains are usually aroused by the stimulation of everyday life meaning they are usually quite alert and attentive. Low levels of dopamine and norepinephrine in ADHD brains make finding and maintaining enough stimulation to focus on simple, mundane tasks very challenging. As a result, ADHD brains are always scanning the environment for high stimulation. People with ADHD are often highly motivated to find this level of stimulation and can disregard important factors like time and consequence during the hunt. This means we are distracted away from important things that need our attention and can often put most of our energy into things that stimulate our brains rather than things that need to be prioritised. It can seem like we choose not to follow rules or cooperate in certain situations but the truth is, we don’t even realise it’s happening, our brains are in control.

I will give you a personal example. When I am at home, unless im having a fuzzy day, I feel calm, satisfied and organised because there are so many colours around me my brain is stimulated. I am full of amazing ideas and can read and write better. Similarly, when I am on the tube, or sitting in church, I write loads and loads in my notebook because the stimulation I get from the variety of things and people to look at makes me able to relax enough to access my thoughts. On the flip side, when I am in a very important meeting in a white room with grey chairs and boring furniture, I feel so uncomfortable I get almost twitchy. On more than one occasion, my fear of appearing physically twitchy and my need for brain stimulation has led me to walk out of the room at the most inappropriate times without even realising until im halfway down the corridor. I then get so confused I feel like I must have needed to go to the toilet but can’t remember leaving the room. Awkward much? definitely if you are in a job interview LOL.

The reason I wanted Latifah to paint me with a bit of the bland, boring vibe that I usually avoid is because sometimes, when I am having a bad or fuzzy day where I feel like the struggles of ADHD are winning, I feel so blank. I feel frustrated, fidgety and weird and it’s the same feeling I get when I am in one of those meeting rooms.

If you feel you have ADHD and want to find natural ways to manage your symptoms, try adding colour to your environment. I’m not sure it works on everyone but your brain is just starved of stimulation and colours are actually known to help even a non ADHD brain. A couple of examples are; Green helps with concentration, Blue is relaxing and calming and helps with productivity and Orange is a mood lifter.